This application is the national stage of PCT/EP02/00371 filed on Jan. 16, 2002 and also claims Paris Convention priority of DE 101 02 219.0
The invention concerns an applicator for liquid or pasty media, in particular for decorative cosmetics such as mascara, comprising a rod-shaped reinforcing core of a first plastic material which is surrounded, at least in the region of its front end, by a support sleeve of a second plastic material, which comprises a plurality of radially outwardly projecting fingers which are integrally formed on the support sleeve and are made from the second plastic material, wherein several fingers, which are distributed over the periphery of the support sleeve, form a finger collar and wherein a plurality of N finger collars having the same number of fingers n are disposed one behind the other in the longitudinal direction of the support sleeve.
Such an applicator can be used in different fields of application. Application of mascara is described by way of example below. The inventive applicator can also be used for coloring hair stands or applying pharmaceuticals.
An applicator for mascara should assure that the mascara can be applied in a simple and uniform fashion. Towards this end, the applicator must initially comb the eyelashes before applying the mascara thereby orienting them in the desired fashion. Moreover, the applicator should be able to receive sufficient mascara to be able to color all eyelashes without having to insert the applicator several times into the mascara supply container. To ensure that the mascara is applied uniformly and without splashing, one must ensure that the applicator does not carry an excessive amount of mascara. For this reason, the applicator is usually wiped on the mascara supply container when being removed from the container. Since the applicator is formed as a freely protruding component with a handle at one end, it must have sufficient stability to be able to safely accommodate the forces acting during use, without breaking. The applicator must, however, be sufficiently flexible to adjust to the curvature of the eyelids and to sufficiently bend in response to improper use to prevent injuries to the eye region of the user.
Up to now, a mascara applicator has conventionally been produced from several wires (U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,838) between which a plurality of short bristles is disposed. The bristles are fixed between the wires through twisting of the wires. A twisted applicator brush of this type has the substantial disadvantage that, due to the compact configuration of the bristles, during use, a considerable portion of the mascara is retained in the gaps formed between the bristles in which impurities, e.g. spores or bacteria may develop. Moreover, uniform combing of the eyelashes is not possible with such an applicator brush due to the plurality of densely packed bristles, since the bristles cannot engage with the eyelashes to produce a combing effect. Moreover, production of a twisted applicator brush is relatively expensive since the wires and the bristles must be produced individually and the bristles must subsequently be twisted into the wires requiring constructively demanding systems. The bristle ends must also be deburred and ground to avoid sharp-edged ends and eliminate any associated risk of injury. An additional disadvantage of twisted applicator brushes is that the metal soul formed by the twisted metal wires can kink during use which renders the applicator brush useless and also presents a great risk to the eye region of the user.
WO 00/54623 discloses an applicator developed to avoid the disadvantages of twisted applicator brushes with bristle stock. That applicator has a reinforcing rod-shaped core onto which an elastomeric plastic jacket is injected in the shape of a support sleeve with integrally formed fingers which project radially outwardly. The fingers have a cross-section which tapers towards their free ends. In this configuration, the fingers have a larger mutual separation at their free ends than in their lower foot regions where they are connected to the support sleeve. Due to the relatively large separation between the free support ends, no or only a small amount of mascara is received in the region of the tips which may be nearly completely removed by the conventional wiper. The tip region of the fingers therefore contains substantially no mascara during use of the applicator and merely combs the eyelashes before they contact the mascara provided in the foot region of the fingers. The relatively small separation between neighboring fingers in their foot region permits accommodation of a sufficiently large amount of mascara to avoid repeated insertion of the applicator into the supply container. It has turned out, however, that the combing action and the application of mascara depend on the constructive design of the applicator and, in particular, on the number, design and configuration of the fingers and not all applicators of the mentioned type obtain satisfactory results.
It is therefore the underlying purpose of the invention to further develop an applicator of this type to ensure an improved combing action and also good and uniform application of the medium to be applied.